Democratic leaders scheduled the showdown for Oct. 18 to allow two weeks for pressure to build on Republicans.

Both sides took comfort from polling data as they settled in for their struggle.

Democracy Corps said its poll showed the public overwhelmingly supports Democrats.

House Republicans distributed a survey that said critics of the legislation can win the public debate if they say they favor “covering uninsured children without expanding government coverage to adults, illegal immigrants and those who already have insurance,” according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press.

Colorado’s program, – Child Health Plan Plus, or CHP+ – has enough in reserve to continue through next year, said Joanne Lindsay, spokeswoman for the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing.

Under the vetoed plan, Colorado could have received about $85 million in 2008 if state legislators approved, according to Families USA, a consumer-advocacy group.

It would have allowed the state to more than double the number of covered children, which was about 53,000 as of July.

“President Bush’s veto will put a lot of Colorado kids at risk,” said Lorez Meinhold with the Colorado SCHIP Coalition, which includes 35 health care, faith-based and business groups.

CHP+ is a low-cost plan for Colorado children who are U.S. citizens or have been legal permanent residents for at least five years. Their families can earn up to 200 percent of the federal poverty-level income – too much to receive Medicaid benefits but often not enough to afford private health insurance.

The Colorado plan is a federal-state partnership. The federal funding is 65 percent of the cost. CHP+ also covers 1,264 pregnant women, 19 or older, who do not have Medicaid or other health insurance.

The vetoed bill would have reauthorized the 1997 State Children’s Health Insurance Program and boosted its funding by $35 billion – to provide a total of $60 billion over the next five years. It would have extended coverage to an additional 4 million children but also created barriers for states seeking to cover uninsured children in families making more than three times the federal poverty level, or about $62,000.

The money would have come from an increase in the 39-cent-a-pack federal tax on cigarettes to $1 a pack.

The Senate passed the bill Sept. 27 with enough votes, a two-thirds majority, to override a veto. The House, which voted 265 to 159 on Sept. 25, did not. The bill would need 289 votes.The Colorado congressional delegation split along party lines.

The president, who wants to increase funding by only $5 billion, said the expanded plan is a dangerous step in the direction of government-run health care. He said it would encourage middle-class parents to drop private health insurance and rely instead on taxpayers.

“The president said he wants to keep the status quo, but because of (rising costs), it actually means cutting kids or services,” said Tara Trujillo, director of health initiatives for the Colorado Children’s Campaign.

In Colorado, the numbers of children covered by private insurance were already falling.

Private insurance covered about 815,000 Colorado children, or about 70 percent, last year, according to a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study. That represented a decline of 11 percent since 1997.

Over the same period, the study found, the number of children enrolled in public health insurance had grown by 69 percent, to 184,000.

Still, about 180,000 Colorado children have no insurance.

“A veto makes no sense from our perspective,” said Kraig Burleson, CEO of Denver’s Inner City Health Center. “Our role is to catch the people who fall through the cracks. Those cracks are becoming crevasses.”

Denver Post wire services contributed to this report.

Congress reacts

“While I support the reauthorization of SCHIP, I do not support legislation that expands the program and serves as an initial step toward government-run health care.”

Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo.

“It is reprehensible that (President Bush) has chosen against investing in the health and well-being of our nation’s children, which is our moral and economic obligation.”

“The bill … has a large tax increase that hits low-income folks the hardest. It would allow illegal aliens to receive free American health care by abolishing certain paperwork requirements.”

Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, a Fort Morgan Republican

“The bleak reality of this veto is that the president is denying health care insurance for 60,000 low-income children in Colorado.”

Rep. Mark Udall, a Democrat from Eldorado Springs

Bush’s “lack of concern for working families is clear. His priority is to continue this war in Iraq at the expense of our children.”

Rep. John Salazar, a Manassa Democrat

“I support the president’s decision to veto this bill. It raises taxes, expands entitlement spending and makes it easier for illegal aliens to obtain government benefits. All of those are bad things.”

Rep. Tom Tancredo, a Littleton Republican

“The policy behind the Democrats’ SCHIP bill would lead the United States down a path toward socialized health care.”

Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Colorado Springs Republican

“Despite the backing of an overwhelming majority of the American public, the president continues to play politics with our children’s health.”

Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a Golden Democrat

“At a time when the entire country is focused on finding ways to provide health coverage to the uninsured, and at a time when even Congress has come together and found bipartisan common ground over this issue, President Bush’s priorities are just plain wrong.”